Work or school? A look at the costs of child labor in Nepal

Parents play an important role in the allocation of their children’s time and are instrumental in the decision whether the children work or go to school. In 2016, we collected data on child labor and schooling surveying over 4,600 children in Nepal. Using our primary data, we document four important findings. First, our study evaluates whether there is bias in reporting the time spent working and school attendance, as the existing literature presents mixed results. We conduct two surveys: one where the respondent is an adult member of the household reporting on the children’s activities and one where the children respond themselves. Our analysis shows that child labor rates and school attendance reporting is not significantly different between the adult respondent and the child. Second, using a randomized survey experiment, we evaluate whether parents perceive the benefits of schooling differently for boys than for girls. It appears that parents spontaneously identify more benefits for boys relative to girls. Third, we examine school attendance among children engaged in child labor. Interestingly, we find that over 90% of child workers also go to school. Fourth, we investigate whether participating in certain types of economic activities is associated with different rates of school attendance and show that children involved in domestic work and household chores are more likely to attend school relative to children involved in other types of work. Our findings raise further questions whether there is indeed a trade-off between working and school and what the true costs of child labor are.

*Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Labor. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.